Talkdesk has positioned itself as the AI-first contact centre platform. Talkdesk Autopilot handles conversational AI, Talkdesk Copilot assists live agents, and the platform's AI capabilities extend across quality management, workforce optimisation, and customer experience analytics.
But when a customer on a Talkdesk call says "I'd like to pay," the AI hits a wall.
Talkdesk does not have native PCI-compliant payment capture. Autopilot can handle intent recognition, account lookups, scheduling, and escalation, but it cannot securely capture a 16-digit card number. There is no built-in payment gateway integration, and no mechanism to process a card transaction within a voice flow while maintaining PCI compliance.
This guide covers how a Talkdesk-based operation can add secure payment capture using Shuttle, enabling both human agents and AI agents to collect payments during calls without handling card data, and exactly what that involves today.
The Payment Gap in Talkdesk
Talkdesk's AI capabilities are industry-leading for conversation handling. But payment capture requires a fundamentally different kind of infrastructure, and the gap is significant:
No native payment processing. Talkdesk does not have a built-in payment engine. There is no way to trigger a card transaction from within a Talkdesk Studio flow, an Autopilot conversation, or an agent interaction without external integration.
No secure card capture. If a customer enters card digits via keypad during a Talkdesk call, those tones are audible to the agent and captured in call recordings. This immediately puts your telephony, recording, and storage infrastructure into full PCI scope.
No AI-to-payment handoff. Talkdesk Autopilot can detect when a customer wants to pay, but it cannot execute the payment. The typical workaround is escalating to a human agent, which defeats the purpose of AI-driven automation and increases cost per interaction.
No multi-PSP routing. Enterprise customers need to route payments to their own gateways. A utility company on Talkdesk needs payments going to Worldpay. An insurance company needs Adyen. A BPO needs to route to a different gateway for each of its clients. Without multi-PSP support, every customer is forced onto whatever gateway the payment partner supports.
Full PCI scope. Any attempt to capture card data within the Talkdesk environment, whether through agent conversation, IVR, or AI, creates PCI scope across your entire infrastructure. SAQ-D compliance is expensive, time-consuming, and operationally burdensome.
For organisations that chose Talkdesk for its AI capabilities, the inability to complete payment transactions is a significant limitation. The AI can do everything except the thing the customer called to do.
How Shuttle Adds Payments to Talkdesk
Shuttle adds PCI-compliant card capture to your Talkdesk payment flows. When the customer is ready to pay, the card is captured inside Shuttle's PCI DSS Level 1 certified environment via Twilio Pay (Shuttle is Twilio's preferred payments partner), and the card data never reaches your Talkdesk recordings, transcription, or your agents. Shuttle customers already take payments this way on Talkdesk-based operations today.
The setup is light. It runs on Twilio Pay, so you need to be a Twilio customer, and you build a small integration on your side. Shuttle ships the secure PCI capture, payment links, IVR, and the payment APIs; what it does not ship is an out-of-the-box agent screen, the input UX, or the amount-passing API call wired for Talkdesk specifically. So the part you build is small: pass the payment amount to Shuttle through its API (the minimum data we need), connect the secure capture into your Talkdesk call flow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. Customers running Talkdesk have already built exactly this. If that fits, book a call and we will scope your exact setup. There is practical detail in the "What to Expect" section further down.
Secure card capture (voice)
When it is time to pay, the card is captured in a secure, PCI DSS Level 1 call via Twilio Pay. The customer enters their card details on their phone keypad, and the digits are captured inside Shuttle's certified environment. They never reach your Talkdesk recordings, your Autopilot pipeline, or your agents. See the Twilio IVR & Agent Assist payment docs for the technical flow.
Triggering from Autopilot or a live agent
You can trigger the secure capture via Shuttle's APIs from a live agent's interface or from an Autopilot flow when payment intent is detected. The payment result is returned to your flow so the conversation can continue (confirming the payment, providing a reference number). The connecting logic between Talkdesk and Shuttle is something you build, because Talkdesk does not have a pre-built Shuttle app today.
Payment Links
This is the most turnkey path. Shuttle generates payment links and sends them via SMS or email, including mid-call to a customer who is still on the line. The customer taps the link, enters card details on a secure hosted page, and confirmation is returned in real time. Shuttle provides the link interfaces out of the box, and links work even with gateways that don't support voice capture. See the Payment Links docs.
Agent experience
For voice, the agent triggers the capture and sees the result without ever handling card data. Shuttle does not ship a pre-built agent screen or input UX for Talkdesk, so you build that minimal piece against Shuttle's APIs: trigger the capture, pass the amount, and show the result in your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. Customers running Talkdesk have already built this. There is more in the "What to Expect" section below.
How a voice payment works
The call proceeds on Talkdesk as normal, with a live agent or Talkdesk Autopilot.
Payment is triggered from your agent interface, or via API from an Autopilot flow when payment intent is detected.
Card captured securely. The card is captured in a PCI DSS Level 1 call via Twilio Pay; the customer enters their card on the keypad, and the digits are captured inside Shuttle's certified environment.
**Transaction is processed.** Shuttle routes to the configured PSP, any of 30+ supported gateways, and the transaction is authorised in real time.
Result returned to your interface or Autopilot flow via webhook, so an agent can confirm the outcome or Autopilot can continue: "Your payment of forty-seven pounds has been processed. Your reference number is..."
No card data in Talkdesk. The card digits never touch your Talkdesk recordings, your CRM, or your agent workstations.
Multi-PSP Support
Enterprise organisations using Talkdesk typically need payment routing flexibility that goes beyond a single gateway.
Shuttle supports 30+ payment gateways with configurable routing:
By merchant: each end client or business unit routes to its own gateway. A BPO using Talkdesk for multiple clients routes Client A's payments to Stripe, Client B's to Worldpay, Client C's to Adyen.
By region: multinational enterprises route UK payments to one gateway, US payments to another, and European payments to a third, optimising for settlement speed and transaction costs.
By failover: if the primary gateway is unavailable, transactions automatically route to a backup.
By card type: route specific card brands to gateways with better rates for those brands.
Switching processors later is straightforward; gateway choice is configuration, not a re-integration. One caveat for voice specifically: a small number of gateways (for example Braintree) don't permit the raw card data to be passed to them, so they don't work for voice capture, though they do work for payment links.
PCI Compliance
Shuttle is a PCI DSS Level 1 certified Service Provider, the highest level of payment security certification in the industry.
Because the card is captured in the secure Twilio Pay call, card data never enters your Talkdesk environment. Your telephony systems, call recordings, agent workstations, Autopilot infrastructure, and AI pipelines stay out of PCI scope, keeping you on the lighter **SAQ-A** path. Full compliance documentation is in the security docs.
This is especially important for Talkdesk users running AI transcription, summarisation, and analytics. Because card data is never in the audio stream that reaches Talkdesk, your AI processes only non-sensitive conversation data.
Voice payments cost $0.20 per successful transaction with no setup fees, no per-seat licensing, and no monthly minimums. Payment links are currently free (a new pricing model is coming).
Use Cases
Insurance
Insurance contact centres are among the largest Talkdesk adopters. Premium collections, renewal payments, claims settlements, and payment plan adjustments are daily operations. Talkdesk Autopilot can handle the conversation; Shuttle handles the secure payment capture via Twilio Pay.
Collections and Debt Recovery
The moment a debtor agrees to pay is the highest-conversion moment in a collections call. Any delay reduces the likelihood of payment, though a mid-call payment link keeps the customer on the line. With Shuttle, the payment is captured immediately, in-call, whether the conversation is with an agent or an AI.
Utilities
Utility companies process high volumes of bill payments through contact centres. Talkdesk's AI capabilities can handle the majority of "I want to pay my bill" calls. Adding Shuttle's secure capture lets the AI hand off the payment leg to Twilio Pay and confirm the result. At scale, this reduces cost per interaction.
Travel and Hospitality
Travel companies use Talkdesk for booking changes, cancellations, and upgrades, all involving payments. Multi-currency support and multi-PSP routing handle the complexity of international travel transactions.
What to Expect
Shuttle is a payment layer you connect to your stack, not a pre-packaged Talkdesk plugin. Here is the honest detail so there are no surprises on the call:
It runs on Twilio Pay today. Shuttle's voice capture uses Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is the certified payment connector, so you need to be a Twilio customer. A carrier-agnostic version that removes the Twilio requirement is on our roadmap for later in 2026.
You build a small integration, not a payment system. Shuttle ships the secure PCI capture, IVR, payment links, and payment APIs. What it does not ship is an out-of-the-box agent screen, the input UX, or the amount-passing API call for Talkdesk specifically. So you build that minimal glue: pass the amount to Shuttle via its API (the minimum data we need), connect the capture into your Talkdesk call flow over Twilio, and add your own agent screen if your workflow needs one. It is light, and customers running Talkdesk have already done it.
A native Talkdesk integration is available as a paid project. If you would rather not build the integration yourself, we can build one for your deployment with you.
Point-of-payment capture is what is live. Securely capturing the card at the moment of payment works today. Shuttle staying present across the entire conversation, or handing the caller back to the same agent afterwards, is part of the fuller call control coming with the carrier-agnostic version.
Payment links are the most turnkey path and need the least build. Many teams start there and add voice capture later.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Shuttle have a native Talkdesk integration?
Not today. Shuttle's voice capture runs on Twilio Pay (we're Twilio's preferred payments partner), and you invoke that setup rather than installing a Shuttle app in Talkdesk. You'll need to be a Twilio customer and to build the agent-side or Autopilot-side interface for your workflow. We can build a native Talkdesk integration as a paid project if you'd rather not build it yourself, and a carrier-agnostic version is on our roadmap.
Does this require Twilio?
Yes, today. The secure card capture runs via Twilio Pay, where Shuttle is the certified payment connector. The carrier-agnostic version that removes this requirement is on our roadmap.
Can Shuttle work with Talkdesk Autopilot?
Yes, via Shuttle's APIs. When Autopilot detects payment intent, your flow can trigger the secure Twilio Pay capture and receive the result so the conversation continues. You build the connecting logic, because Talkdesk does not have a pre-built Shuttle app today.
Can we just use payment links instead of voice capture?
Yes. Many teams use links only, sent via SMS or email, including mid-call. Links are the most turnkey part of Shuttle and work with gateways that don't support voice capture.
Can we try it before committing?
Yes. You can build a proof of concept against Shuttle's sandbox gateway and demo app to see the IVR flow, then move to a compatible production gateway when you're ready.
How many gateways does Shuttle support?
30+ payment gateways including Stripe, Adyen, Worldpay, Checkout.com, Braintree, Square, Mollie, and many more. Multiple gateways can be active simultaneously with routing rules, and switching is configuration, not a re-integration.
What does Shuttle cost?
$0.20 per successful transaction for voice, no setup fees, no per-seat licensing, no monthly minimums. Payment links are currently free.
Related Reading
PCI-Compliant Payments for Contact Centres, the complete guide to contact centre payment processing
Twilio Pay Connectors, how Shuttle integrates with Twilio's payment infrastructure
Voice Payments, comprehensive guide to voice payment capture
AI Voice Agent PCI Payments, adding payments to AI voice agents
Embedded Payments for CCaaS, the platform operator's guide to CCaaS payments
Get Started
Shuttle adds PCI-compliant payment capture to a Talkdesk operation via Twilio, for both human agents and Autopilot, without expanding your PCI scope or locking your merchants into a single gateway. We'll walk you through what's live today and the path for your setup.
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